Fall Returns

[Ctrl_Alt_Dlt]

Infant on a boat! Would that work on a canoe too?

Wife gave me ultimate freedom of fishing prior to the first kid. Oh, I miss those days. Now, I fish saturday mornings only to accommodate a needy wife, a 2yr old and a 1 yr old.

[M1dwestF1sh]

Just got in and the water temps were between 63-64. All fish shallow on docks or green weeds. The bass were okay but the pike were very interested in everything I had. Lost a crank and two chatterbaits...

[minnleu]

Did good with a Spro frog from 5 till dark tonight. Tried a buzz, but nothing on it. Maybe too fast. The bass were scattered all over, but most came from the deeper edge of reeds or emerged weed beds and nothing at all from lily pads. Like M1 above, the water was 63-64 tonight. The same water was 71-73 on Tuesday. Probably drop a bunch of degrees tonight. Should be great next week after the weather stabilizes.

[RumRiverRat]

35 degrees when we put the boat in today.

Fished a new lake and did OK.

Juane Grande and I quickly determined a pattern and worked it.

Forced the buzzbait a little, tried in the shallow slop.

But the fish were right on the weed edge in 8 to 10 feet of water.

T-Rig Worm in Red Shad worked slowly put most of the fish in the boat.

[M1dwestF1sh]

Do you guys still like getting up early to fish in the fall? I normally don't care once the water temps start dropping. And do you guys think the sun or clouds still effects the shallow bite?

[RumRiverRat]

This will be the last weekend of getting up early.

In the fall I want a sunny and calm day. Gets the water temps up a little and the fish are a lot more active in the afternoon.

Debating about how early tomorrow. Also debating what lake.

[RuddyDuck]

As fall gets cooler, I would ideally fish later in the morning or those nice afternoons with a good warm up,but sometimes its more of when I am able to fish than when it is best to fish!

I was out for a couple hours this afternoon, got a few but kinda slow. The wind was kinda nagging and stronger than I thought. Water was about 62. Got most on a boring white spinnerbait.

[M1dwestF1sh]

Well today was SLOW for me! Went to two different small lakes and caught fish on a chatterbait and a t-rig. Not many fish though. All can in about 6ft with weeds. Water temps were 60 at one lake and 62 at another.

[Craigums]

In the fall I want a sunny and calm day. Gets the water temps up a little and the fish are a lot more active in the afternoon.

I just logged in to ask this question. Best Fall fishing day I've ever had was overcast with moderate wind and clouds that wanted to spit rain but couldn't. In my head though warmer temps and sun seem like it should be best so IDK

[RuddyDuck]

I made it out last night for 2 hours and it was a nice early Fall night to be out. I was able to get a bit of a lipless/squarebill bite going. I got one nice 4lb 8ozer that hit about 3ft from my trolling motor! You can see it inhaled the crank. After that, I started pausing the squarebills more and that got a few more hits.

[RK]

Especially post-turnover, banker's hours are the way to fly a lot of the time. Doesn't seem to matter what the actual weather is, although sun/calm can get fish shallower and up in the water column a little more. I still fish early just because that's how I'm wired, but until things warm up and they day gets on you do have to fish slower and pick edges apart more than you would later in the day. Good example is a smallie lake I fish. Early in the morning you can fish a shallow shelf and not get a sniff, but go off the edge of it with a tube and catch some fish. By 2 in the afternoon though the flat will crawl with fish.

Had a great couple days over the weekend. Only able to get out a few hours each morning, but caught some nice fish. At one point, caught a 20-incher, let it go, fired a jig back to the same spot and it never hit the bottom. Fish #2 was 21.5. Might be the biggest bass I catch all year... That was kind of the theme for the weekend overall. Fish were pretty bunched up, so when you caught one you'd catch a few more in short order. Caught some smaller fish shallow on buzzbaits and a spoon, but most fish, and all the quality, were on coontail edges in 9-11 FOW. All the deep fish came on a South Paw jig. Didn't do much at all on crankbaits.

[M1dwestF1sh]

Out for a few hours yesterday. Water temps were anywhere from 62-64 around this small lake. Got a few lipless crank fish but still not great. The fish I found were between their fall and summer spots and they were spread out.

[TR21HP]

Same here M1dwestF1sh, Out for 5 hours and two of us caught 20 bass and 5 northern. Running and gunning all day, no set pattern except most of the fish were from 5-9 feet with no break. Transition fish mostly.

[Craigums]

Taking a 1/2 day and going to hit Minnetonka for a few hours. Got a Lipless, Buzzbait, DT6, and Jig tied on to start. We'll see, wish me luck

[RuddyDuck]

I'm jealous. .

You forgot a square bill on the list! Good luck.

[M1dwestF1sh]

Sounds fun! Big potential. Let us know how you do.

[Craigums]

Fishing was tough with the bluebird skies and no wind but it was a nice day to be on the water. Probably could have done better with senkos and dropshots but I tried to force feed them jigs and crankbaits instead. I did catch a 19'' bass though and snapped a cool photo as I released it.

[RuddyDuck]

Nice fish. I think a slow day of fishing always beats a good day at work!

It does seem like the fish aren't quite in Fall mode yet. Like others have said, they do seem scattered. I've also found the last few times out that they want things a little slower, be it crankbaits or jigs. Sure has been some nice weather to be on the lakes lately though.

[Nick Kuhn]

Bass fishing in the fall is always unpredictable for me. I've had days that have been utterly hopeless. I've also had days where I would hook a 16" fish and hope it got off on it's own because I was catching so many fish it wasn't worth it to land a 16" fish.

[RumRiverRat]

Somebody whacked the Smallies today.........wasn't me........being taunted via text message is not cool.

You know who you are

[bassfshin24]

[RuddyDuck]

I made it out yesterday morning for a couple hours. It was a bit breezy out for sure. It was slow for awhile, but once I hit an area of good green weeds in 7-8ft, I was able to put some fish in the boat. Nothin huge, with the biggest coming in at 18.5in. I got them on a variety of lures: Spinnerbait, square bill, lipless crank, jig/craw and a swim jig. Just seemed to help by switchin it up every so often. Water was still about 62. I wish I could of hit it late afternoon, I was guessing once the wind dropped a bit, the bite might go crazy. Wasn't able to get out though.

Sounds like it will be warm all week.

[DLD24]

Went out yesterday with a buddy and had a good time we got 4 fish over 17"... Bigger fish came on spinnerbaits and buzz baits on lily pad edges...

[RumRiverRat]

This is going to be a great weekend of fishing.

[RuddyDuck]

I haven't bought my duck license yet, so I suppose I should just go fishing, huh! The dogs probably have just as much fun fetching dummies out of the pond anyways. More action probably!

I am curious if this warm up will help or hamper the fall bite. Water really hasn't cooled down yet.